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Basque Country: Movement for sovereignty and socialism on the rise

February 18, 2013 – Links International
Journal of Socialist Renewal -- Oskar Matute (pictured above)
was elected to the Basque parliament in the election of October 21, 2012, as a
candidate for Euskal Herria Bildu (EH Bildu, Basque Country Reunification). He
was previously a member of parliament from 2002-2009 with Ezker Batua-Berdeak,
a united-left grouping. His is spokesperson for Alternativa, one of the
founding members of the EH Bildu coalition, which has achieved spectacular
electoral results since its legalisation in May 2011. EH Bildu won 25% of the
popular vote in the October 2012 Basque election -- capturing 21 out of 75
seats.

Tristan
Parish and Rachel
Evans spoke to Oskar Matute about EH Bildu and the Basque battle for
independence, dignity and socialism.

* * *

How did EH
Bildu form and why did it achieve such good results?

Bildu was an accumulation of forces of the
left. Some of us, such as myself, came from the United Left [Izquierda Unida (IU)– a left political party of various
left
groups], while others were movement activists; a third grouping included the
older radical left, including, for example, the Revolutionary Communists. We
were interested in multidimensional socialism, more internationalist, feminist
and ecologist.

EH Bildu formed through many meetings of the Basque
nationalist left from early 2011, where we carried out a collective diagnosis
of the crisis of the Basque left, of the harassmentof the left by the government and of the
necessity of combining
forces to break the cycle of illegalisation and violence.

This wasn't just in relation to the violence
of the ETA [Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Basque Homeland and Freedom] but of the
state. [ETA waged an armed struggle in Basque Country
for sovereignty until it declared a unilateral and indefinite ceasefire in
October 2011.]

The only way to overcome the crisis of the
left, which we were also living through in Basque Country, was to create a
unity capable of being a tool at the service of the masses, in a direct
relationship with their struggles.

At municipal elections in May 2011 we had
spectacular results. Bildu became the first political force in Gibuzkoa and
took the San Sebastian council. It became the second force in all of the Basque
Country and Navarre with 100 local councils. In November 2011 at the general
election, Bildu won a majority of the region’s federal deputies, six from
Basque Country and one from Navarra. In this region we received a larger
portion on the vote than any other party, including the ruling right-wing Partido
Popular (Popular Party, PP), which won an absolute majority at a federal level.

The fruit of these results is the larger alliance, EH Bildu.

In the regional elections in October 2012, EH
Bildu won 21 seats, becoming the second political force in Basque Country [the
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) won 27] and a space of power for the left. EH
Bildu is the only representative of the left in the current Basque parliament.

There are two documents which explain the
unifying principles of EH Bildu. One comes from January 2011 and the Bildu
alliance and one from September 2012 and EH Bildu coalition. They can be found
on the Alternativa web page [http://Alternativa.net/es].

In Alternativa, there is great decisiveness
and a certainty that we are not looking to reform capitalism, not looking to
improve capitalism, we are looking to develop a social and economic alternative
to capitalism.

Tell us more
about the fight for independence in Basque Country and ETA?

The existence of the armed activity of ETA was
compatible with their political strategy. Talking about other experiences, the
armed strategy of the ETA has been, for a long time, an obstacle to develop the
relations between different forces of the left in the Basque Country because of
the degree of rejection, or uneasiness, with violence. Once we had a better political
tool for achieving independence and socialism ETA decided to leave armed
activity absolutely and permanently. This, we think, is a source of strength
for EH Bildu because it has taken us out of the political context where
the left has been divided.

On the other hand the Basque people understand
that Bildu has been fundamental in advancing the disappearance of violence. EH Bildu
has a lot of support because -- though it might be exaggerated to say it -- EH
Bildu has been instrumental in doing away with violence. It’s true that
institutional violence still exists by the state. The Spanish state considers
us, if not enemies in a military sense, at least a serious political threat.

Did the armed
strategy help or hinder the Basque struggle?

It’s a controversial analysis but I come from
antiimilitarist experiences and so, a long time ago, I decided that armed
struggle was not the most effective strategy against a state, because of the
inequality of military capacity. There are those who think that ETA kept alive
the combativity of the resistance.

I believe a lot more in the possibilities of
the current moment. An ongoing part of our work is the de-legitimisation of the
Spanish state for its undemocratic relationship with Basque Country. Working
from a non-violent stance permits us to join with ever more people and groups.
This is a perspective of my own and that of Alternativa, but not necessarily of
all EH Bildu. I think that non-violence is a better tool for delegitimising the
state, whereas while violence existed, thanks to the mass media, this message
was much harder to get across to the Basque population.

Why does the
Basque Country only have its current level of autonomy, where you have a Basque
parliament, but tied to the central Spanish government?

The Spanish state made a transition to
democracy in the form of a pact with the military. After dictator Franco died
[in November 1975] the democratic transition, so acclaimed in other places, was
not so democratic for the Basque people. The transition was carried out in a
way that would not make the military officers who had run the dictatorship
uncomfortable. Other political parties, including some of the United Left, have
changed their position and accept the partition of the Basque County into
different territories and with the limited autonomy that has been imposed on
us. We maintain the position of the real, revolutionary left, which it that the
seven territories that make up the Basque Country, four in the Spanish state
and two in France, constitute one independent nation.

The Basque Country
is rich and the south of Spain is very poor. If Basque wins independence, will
it provide support to poorer parts of Spain?

We’ve never thought about Basque sovereignty
in terms of economic strength or weakness. I don’t have the data to talk about
other regions, to know if they are poor or if their resources are being
misused. EH Bildu has a very clear internationalist position. We want
sovereignty for the Basque Country because all people and nations have the
right to decide how to relate to other people of the world. We have the will to
be a nation. Our citizens believe in a sovereign Basque Country. We’re not
stuck in history or romantic or racial determinations. We insist on being able
to decide what happens to us in our own lands. From this we develop
internationalism.

Compared with the rest of Europe,
internationalism in Basque Country is not weak. In terms of solidarity with the
Zapatistas in Mexico, and the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador –
wherever there is an emancipatory project -- we have been present. We never
talk about our national project as a way of separating us from those who are
poorer. We do want the right to decide with whom to be in solidarity with, and how..

Workers’ cooperatives
in the Basque Country are very strong, particularly the Mondragon cooperative.
How are they related to the left?

The cooperative has a lot of strength because
it began in a difficult context, that of the Franco dictatorship. If we are
thinking of a perfect model, a socialist model of production “to each according
to their needs, from each according to their abilities”, as the phrase goes,
the cooperative model has produced higher levels of social cohesion than
capitalism has managed. Workers are involved in planning. Unemployment in
Basque Country is half that compared to the rest of the Spanish state, due to
the cooperative model. There is a very direct relationship -- where cooperatives
are strong what you will find a majority of Bildu-controlled councils.

Do the
cooperatives have representatives in parliament?

Many political militants of the left,
including representatives of Bildu, are workers from the cooperatives, but
there is not a formal representation of the cooperatives. There are lot of
workers and unemployed supporting our party, but very few businesspeople.

I don’t think that the cooperative is a
perfect model. It is better in terms of labour relations than capitalism. But I
think we need to go far beyond it in socialism. It does establish mechanisms
for the participation of workers in production. In the crisis the cooperatives
have lowered dividends, so they haven’t had to fire anybody.

Why is more
repression in Basque Country than Catalonia, the other major autonomous region
that is calling for independence?

From the outside I think that it might be the
that the Spanish state all looks the same: sun, tourism and Latin people
disposed to partying and ill-disposed to work. But the reality is Spain
contains different nations.

We Basque are obstinate in our determination
in rejecting the attempted incorporation by Spain. This probably makes us more
dangerous than other peoples and justifies higher levels of repression. We tend
to say that in the Basque Country it’s not just the problem of sovereignty, but
a component is the construction of sovereignty of the left, a socialist
sovereignty. This is what really marks a break and represents a model
antagonistic to theirs. Against a unified Spain we want a different Basque
Country. This probably draws more repression down on us.

The struggles in Catalonia and País Vasco have
both been maintained for a long time. Here we talk about the King of Navararre
as the administrative figure closest to being the head of a Basque state. The
Kingdom of Navararre, which may have been the first European democracy, was
occupied by force by the Kingdom of Castille in 1512.

What is the
extent of the economic crisis in the Basque Country? How is the trade union
movement responding to it?

The crisis in Basque Country isn’t of our
making. We’re being hit by a crisis of the system, of capitalism, a crisis of
civilisation that is also ecological. It has a local expression in the Basque
Country but as with everywhere else it is related to the taking of power by
markets from governments. Apart from the crises, we have always said that we want
a different social and economic model, not to hide ourselves from what happens
under capitalism but to establish a model that might serve other people as an
example for building resistance.

In terms of the trade unions the first thing
I’d like to emphasis is that the rate of unionisation is more than twice that
which exists in the rest of the Spanish state. It is true that the movement is
divided between those who defend sovereignty and those who think Basques must
remain within the Spanish state. This means that there is disunity, but not
that there is no strength. Three or four decades ago the movement was much
stronger, but it still has influence today.

How strong
are the social movements?

The social movements in the Basque Country
have always been important. As with elsewhere, perhaps they aren’t as strong as
they were in late 1970s and early 1980s but we are still able to mobilise
people.

EH Bildu’s relationship with them is one of
respect and collaboration. We don’t want them to be our agents, as happened
with Communist Party of Spain. We don’t want to be the voice or representatives
of the movements inside the institutions, to replace them, but to be part of
the movements.

The movement for sovereignty and socialism has
many expressions. There is what is done by the social movements, what’s done by
the trade unions and what needs to be done in the institutions. We are part of,
not the voice of, the social movements. This is very important in our
understanding of the politics of the left in Bildu and Alternativa. We have to
develop a collaboration that will permit the realisation of, as Antonio Gramsci
said, social hegemony. This comes from collaboration, from the union of wills
in a common struggle, not the imposition of a hierarchy of some instruments
over others.

What about
the 15th of May (15M) movement that rose across Spain and other autonomous
regions in 2011?

It didn’t have the same intensity here as it
did within the Spanish state. There could be many factors. One thing is
evident. The explosion of 15M in Madrid coincided with the battle for the
legalisation of Bildu, for us to be able to run in elections. We were
considered [by the Spanish state] to be linked with ETA, and so illegal. In
this moment a lot of people were more in immersed in this struggle than in
something that came from Madrid.

The feeling of living in false democracy, one
that does not permit you to construct a just society, is a feeling that has
been here in the Basque Country for a long time. Here we have suffered illegalisation,
prison and repression for a long time. A section of organised Basque youth are
still in jail for belonging to banned organisations. So this feeling in 15M
that there needs to be more real or democracy in the Spanish State has, due to
the repression, been felt here for a long time.

How does EH
Bildu ensure its MPs remain distinct to the corrupt political class?

We don’t believe in the “political class”.
It’s an expression invented by those wanting to delegitimise political action
and back a technocratic government. The first step for those in power is to
disparage political participation. It’s true their rhetoric goes over well with
those who feel abandoned in coping with their everyday problems.

We are those who believe in always engaging in
politics, whether it’s in the institutions and outside of the institutions, in
the streets and in the social movements, in the trade unionsand the community
assemblies or in the schools, we also engage in politics. We believe that
politics accompanies everything and that the personal is also political.

How are we going to save ourselves from corruption?
With very clear ethical codes that have been presented with to the public. And
with things that are very evident. The salaries of the Bildu MPs don’t go to
their own bank accounts, but to the party which then decides on a salary for its
representatives. Speaking about Alternativa, which I know best, the two
parliamentarians elected through EH Bildu give all their salaries to
Alternativa. Alternativa then pays them a salary that is worth 35% of the
official salary. A MP’s salary in the Basque parliament is 3590 euros a month
plus 800 euros in expenses. But Alternativa MPs get paid 1800 euros.

We contribute to the social movements as much
as we can and as much as the law allows. The law of the Spanish state which,
unfortunately, we are subject to does not permit all types of economic
connections and movement of money between political parties and social
movements. But Alternativa does dedicate part of its budget to internationalist
projects, and other Bildu members do the same.

Do mayors get
a big salary too?

It depends of the municipality. In the Spanish
state, during the years of the economic boom there were mayors of councils with
4000 inhabitants whot gave themselves salaries of 60,000 euros, for example.
This doesn’t happen in Bildu-run municipalities. All the salaries of all the
public officials go into a common fund.

There is a
referendum planned in Scotland in 2014 on independence. Will the Basque Country
follow suit with a referendum?

I don’t think it’s a question of when we want
to do it, but when we will be able to. Our determination is that the Basque
Country will be a free and sovereign nation. This has existed for a long time,
and if it was up to us the referendum would be tomorrow! What we are doing is
working in the meantime until that’s possible. Until we are able to convoke a
referendum our aim is to include more people in the defence of national
sovereignty. Then, whenever this referendum might happen, we’ll be the majority
and we’ll win it.

What
percentage of the population would vote for independence in a referendum?

Well I think every single person who voted for
Bildu backs the right of self-determination. Since the October 2012 Basque
election there are 21 MPs from Bildu and 27 from the Basque Nationalist Party,
which says that it is in favour of independence. That means 48 out of 75 MPs
are pro-independence, an overwhelming majority, but we doubt the will of
the Basque nationalist right to construct a sovereign Basque Country.

There are
many Basque political prisoners. Arnaldo Otegi and Rafael Diaz are two of the
most famous. What is the importance of international solidarity with them?

International solidarity is very important to
pressure the Spanish state, which has locked up so many people, including Rafa
Diez, Amaia Esnal, Txelui Moreno and José Manuel Serra. The Spanish state is
attempting to silence dissent and hide its lack of democracy. In Spain there
are political prisoners and politicians who are also imprisoned.

Political prisoners come from the armed
activity of ETA and many other groups as well. There are political prisoners of
the GRAPO (Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre, 1st October
Antifascist Resistance Group) and political prisoners from anarchist other
tendencies. There are also politicians imprisoned, includingArnaldo Otegi, Sonia Jacinto, Arkaitz
Rodriguez and Miren Zabaleta,people
who were constructing a political alternative and who were imprisoned for this
without any connection with ETA or any form of political violence.

Is there a
difference between political prisoners and politicians who are imprisoned?

There are people in prison because they were
ETA militants and carried our armed activity and there are people in prison
because the Spanish state decided that everybody that supported an objective of
ETA -- socialism, independence -- was part of ETA. But many of the people in
prison were never members of ETA or had anything to do with any armed group.

Is there a
difference in the political campaigns for their freedom?

No, because what we want is for the Spanish
state to comply with its own law. Basque prisoners should be in the Basque Country
and they should serve only the sentences given to them (though we would support
the release of all prisoners), and the terminally ill should be released as
within Spanish law. At the moment the Spanish state is carrying out a punitive
policy against Basque prisoners. There is a strong link with many people
throughout the world supporting this campaign, but we haven’t managed to bend
the rigidity of the Spanish state. Whatever assistance, however small, we receive
to win the release of all Basque prisoners is appreciated.

Has there
been any change in the Spanish state’s attitude since the rise of Bildu and the
ETA ceasefire?

No. The Spanish state maintains the same
politics as when ETA existed. It justifies its harshness and punitive policy on
the cruelty and danger of ETA actions. Since the ceasefire, it has maintained
the same punitive policy.

Are there
campaigns to promote support for an independent Basque Country in the rest of
the Spanish state?

Yes, but it’s difficult. You have to
understand that any collective in the Spanish state that puts itself alongside
EH Bildu is subject to the state’s campaign of criminalisation because they are
considered “friends of the terrorists” and “un-Spanish”. For example, the
United Left, although we agree with them on many social and economic issues,
look the other way because they understand that if they were to stand by us
they would suffer a political and media campaign against them that would weaken
them.

How might a
sovereign, socialist Basque state come into being?

By taking power, as Lenin said. We have always
said that we are in enemy territory, as it’s the enemy who has written the
rules of bourgeoisie democracy and who has written the laws we work under. We
know that we can’t achieve national sovereignty and socialism without the
active majority support of our people, and our work is to generate an ever
greater majority and to rescue spaces, including in government, for different
practices, to achieve this.

We don’t think that the Spanish government can
maintain its posture indefinitely if it is faced with a Basque people demanding
its liberty. Our objective is for the people to stands up and demands its freedom.